Turning the Tables

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Two of the more controversial techniques for ­improving the quality of education have been competition and information. The two come ­together in the league tables, which have always been the bane of the teaching profession and which Michael Gove, the Education Secretary, now proposes to overhaul.

In a sense the competitive urge unleashed by league tables has undermined the information they contain. Schools have taken the league tables so seriously, and been so keen to climb them, that (it has been known for some time) they have been gaming the system. It is rational, when the measure of success is